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Man of the House (2005)

Director: Stephen Herek

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From Time Out London

Roland Sharp (Tommy Lee Jones) is a Texas Ranger assigned to protect a group of cheerleaders who witness a murder. Which should be enough to put off most people, but for the curious, here’s more… Sharp is a grouchy old guy who prefers young women to cover up their assets. How hilarious, then, to throw him into a house with a bunch of teenaged girls with a preference for wearing very little. Oh, and were there some baddies after them? We’ve forgotten.
Much like fellow fish-out-of-water crime comedies ‘Connie and Carla’ and ‘Miss Congeniality’, this sidelines its criminal plot in favour of humour. But humour is, alas, in short supply. It draws weak jokes from the characters’ differences in age, gender and values. The latter gives rise to a hypocritical stance: while the camera fetishises the young women’s bodies, the moral advises against overexposing them. Equally nonsensical is the casting of twentysomething actresses as cheerleaders (bet you never thought you’d see a forensic scientist from TV’s ‘CSI: NY’ in bunches and a miniskirt). With poor writing and a distasteful tone, this makes an even worse job of its premise than you might expect, leaving it to the usual sidekick, Cedric the Entertainer, to provide the occasional laugh as a convict-turned-holy man.

Author: AS

Time Out London Issue 1807: April 6-13 2005

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